Attorneys for Opposition Leader David Granger have filed a notice of motion appealing acting Chief Justice Ian Chang’s decision to exclude him from the 2012 budget cut case.
“Brigadier Granger caused to be filed in the Full Court a notice of Motion seeking orders to set aside the decision striking him out as a defendant and to stay proceedings in the budget cuts case until the hearing and determination of the said appeal,” said attorney Basil Williams, who is a member of the legal team, yesterday.
On June 19th last, Justice Chang struck out Granger and Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh as defendants in the case brought by the Attorney General Anil Nandlall, on the ground that they are MPs and can’t be sued.
Speaker of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman remains the sole respondent in the matter, which was filed over the historic cuts that were made to the 2012 budget by the parliamentary opposition.
The appeal says Chang made the decision and refused to give Granger a hearing on the issue before making the order to strike him out as a defendant in the case.
Williams yesterday maintained that Granger and by extension main opposition APNU believes that the Chief Justice’s decision was “arbitrary and unreasonable” as the opposition still was in the majority and can cut the budget as part of its parliamentary duty. “Putting us out will not resolve that matter because we’re still in parliament and we’re saying we could cut the budget,” he said.
